Paul Finebaum: With another title, Nick Saban “is the greatest college football coach of all-time”

Nick Saban’s run of success over the past several seasons is almost unparalleled in the history of college football.

This week, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum went so far as to say Alabama’s coach has a chance to stand above even the legendary Bear Bryant if the Crimson Tide beat Clemson in Monday’s national championship matchup.

“Bryant was great. I thought he was the greatest ever,” Finebaum said. “But I think Monday night, if Nick Saban and Alabama win the national championship, you can say Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach of all-time.”

Saban, who owns a 190-60-1 overall record in the college ranks, has already won three national titles at Alabama (2009, 2011, 2012) and a fourth at LSU (2003). If Alabama can capture another trophy under his watch, that would give him five championships in the last 11 years as a college coach, excluding his two years with the Miami Dolphins. By comparison, Bryant won seven — six with the Tide and one at Kentucky — but that came over a span of nearly 30 years (1950-1979).

“(After Bryant retired), the feeling was we would never see anyone or anything quite like that,” Finebaum said. “But here we go again at the same place in Tuscaloosa.”